Burundi national Nina Muregwa says she feels threatened again. After escaping death threats back home over her sexual identity the 17-year-old thought she had found a sanctuary in Kenya. Recent incidents, however, have left her scared for her life once more. She and other LGBT refugees allege they have been harassed by police in recent weeks in Kenya, which is a rare regional haven for the gay community and yet maintains that gay sex is illegal. It is the only East African nation where someone can seek asylum and be registered as a refugee based on their LGBT status, the United Nations refugee agency says. It is not clear how many are registered in Kenya. Muregwa and 16 other refugees allege that five police officers arrested them at gunpoint at home and locked them up without charge earlier this month. After they were released two days later on June 10, they allege another group of police officers tried to arrest them but the U.N. refugee agency intervened.

One Response to “LGBT Refugees Allege Harassment in Kenya, a Rare Safe Haven”

For me it is strange that a country where homosexuality is illegal is the same country that allows LGBT people to take refuge as such; but the world is strange in these subjects. Sometimes I do not understand well the work of the UNHCR, the actions that it carries out to help groups that request some type of refuge (I have read them). I believe that international organizations should be more demanding with African countries and respect for sexual diversity, because the only way I see it so that we can talk about the human rights of LGBT people in many of these places